Companies such as Harley Davidson Motor Co. in Milwaukee, Illinois Tool Works Inc. in Glenview, Ill. and Essve Tech Inc., a manufacturer of corrugated steel pipes in Alpharetta, Ga., are actively recruiting women to fill the shortage caused by a growth spurt in U.S. manufacturing due to lower energy costs, reshoring a more competitive labor market as Baby Boomers continue to retire. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated last spring that 241,000 factory jobs remained unfilled.

Until recently, projects were largely initiated by and implemented for IT departments, rather than business, and the focus was primarily on eliminating silos and moving from departmental to enterprise programs. That focus has shifted and the shift has led to a $14bn global market for business intelligence software in 2013"”one expected to eclipse $17bn by 2016, according to Gartner Group estimates.

Just as countries vie with one another to be agreeable places in which to do business by having congenial tax rates, U.S, states have come to realize that in order to attract jobs and diversify revenue, they too, must adjust their tax structure accordingly.

When asked to describe the impact on the economy of modernizing factories with advanced technology and automation, nearly two-thirds of Americans told pollsters that it either made no difference or actually hurt the economy, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While a majority of start-up business owners do not believe the economy will grow in the next 12 months, 83 percent are nonetheless confident that their own profits will, according to the fourth-quarter Kauffman/LegalZoom Startup Confidence Index.

China has become the biggest market for Amway's nutritional supplements. But three years ago, when the icon of multi-level marketing faced a decision as to whether to build a state-of-the-art supplement plant in China or in the U.S., Amway chose to erect it down the road from its global headquarters in Ada, Michigan. It's typical of a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing.

The chief supply chain officer has emerged as a vital partner in the most strategic aspects of managing complex, global companies. In years past, the procurement function (the sourcing of essential products and services on the best possible terms) occupied center stage. But more recently, the relentless focus on driving out costs has taken a backseat to such issues as supply market risk, revenue enhancement and managing complex supplier relationships.

Innovation is required if the U.S. is to regain the level of productivity that it enjoyed toward the end of the 19th Century through the mid-20th Century. However, innovation by itself is not enough. Just as our parents and grandparents adopted electricity, the automobile, credit cards and airplanes in the period from 1870-1950, businesses and organizations of the 21st Century must embrace change.

With sluggish U.S. growth, international business expansion has become a vital strategic pillar for many companies. Yet, an international expansion strategy is fraught with uncertainties, risks and other obstacles. So is it worth it? That is, are companies that grow faster internationally rewarded by investors with better share price appreciation such that the risks are worth taking?

Mobile is completely different from anything you've done before, and you need to throw conventional wisdom onto the dust heap of out-of-date thinking. You may have a bunch of people in business and IT that are telling you how you should approach mobile, but beware. They might not even recognize that mobile is different in every way from previous technology waves.